Prior art contact toasters are characterized by one or more toasting chambers, each adapted to receive and transport a food product along a heated platen. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,276, for example, the toaster employs a rotating endless belt in spaced relation to the platen. Food products are inserted in the space between the belt and the platen and transported in a press fit relationship along the platen surface. To achieve the press fit, a guide plate is situated behind the belt. To accommodate food products of different widths, an adjustable abutment member is typically used to adjust the position of the guide plate and hence the distance between the belt and the platen. The adjustable abutment member is a frame mounted on a rod that is rotatable to four distinct positions (as illustrated in FIG. 6) corresponding to four distinct belt to platen distances or food product widths.
Though adequate for some applications, the utility of the four distinct position adjuster disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,276 is limited to food products having a width that is consistent with at least one of the four distinct position adjustments permitted by the abutment member. The problem with this is that it substantially restricts the food products for which the contact toaster may be used.
The present inventors have developed a novel belt platen adjusting mechanism which allows infinite adjustment thereto, thereby allowing the contact toaster to be used for a variety of food products having virtually any reasonable width, e.g., buns made by different manufacturers.
The present invention provides a novel and improved toaster having infinite control between minimum and maximum toaster belt to platen distances.
The toaster embodying the present invention also maintains a selected distance substantially uniformly over the belt area that faces the platen.